Casting Woo
by Just Funning
Summary: An exploration of how the Willow/Tara relationship may have started; paints Tara in a more sinister light.


**I do not own the Buffy the Vampire Slayer property or any of the characters therein.**

CASTING WOO

"It's getting so late," Willow said, glancing at the clock on Tara's nightstand. "Buffy will be wondering where I am. I better get back to my dorm."

"You suh-sure you have to go?" Tara said quickly, tripping over her words. "I can tuh-teach you some more spells."

"You've been teaching me spells every night this week."

"I've just nuh-never had anyone to share this stuh-stuff with before. And you're such a puh-powerful witch."

"Who, me?" Willow said, her cheeks turning as red as her hair. "You're the one who knows all the spells."

"But it usually takes me wuh-weeks to master a single spell; you muh-master them in a matter of hours. You've got a nuh-natural talent for witchcraft I could never hope to muh-match."

"Did I tell you about nearly getting all my friends killed recently with a spell gone awry? Or my inability to reverse a simple transmutation spell?"

"Trust me, I can ruh-read people's auras and you're well on your wuh-way to being an amazing Wicca."

Willow smiled, her face turning an even deeper shade of scarlet, but she seemed pleased. She glanced at the clock again, chewed on her lip while she appeared to think things over, then said, "I really can't stay tonight, and tomorrow night we have a Scooby meeting. What about Saturday? Want to do something then?"

"Oh, suh-sure, Saturday's fuh-fine," Tara said, trying to hide her disappointment but doing a lousy job at it.

"I've had a lot of fun this week, Tara. I'm glad we met, I haven't had another magically-inclined friend in so long. Not since Amy turned herself into a rat and Michael went off to college on the east coast. Your friendship means a lot to me."

Then Willow was wrapping her arms around Tara and hugging her close. At first Tara stiffened involuntarily, so unexpected was this sudden intimacy, but then she melted into the embrace, her own arms sliding around Willow's back. Closing her eyes, Tara buried her face in Willow's hair, breathing in the clean scent of the other girl, a scent like lilacs. She felt Willow start to pull away, but Tara held on tighter, refusing to let go. This was Heaven, and she didn't want it to end. Willow's alabaster neck was right there, so tantalizing close, and without giving it a moment's thought, Tara placed her lips there, letting her tongue snake out and lick at the salty skin.

"What are you doing?" Willow said, pushing herself away from Tara, her eyes wide with shock, and Tara realized instantly that she'd misjudged the situation.

"I'm suh-sorry, I just thought we wuh-were…I mean, I thought you wanted muh-me to…"

"Oh," Willow squeaked softly, a hand to her neck as if Tara had bitten her or something. "I had no idea you felt that way, it never even occurred to me."

"We've buh-been getting so close this puh-past week."

"Tara, I like you a lot, but I don't _like you like you_. I'm just not…well, you know."

Tara suddenly felt like crying, she'd really botched things up this time. Again. Why was she always developing crushes on straight girls then imagining they felt the same? It was a vicious cycle that just made her more and more miserable every time. "I didn't muh-mean to upset you."

"It's cool," Willow said with an unconvincing laugh. "I mean, I don't have a problem with…you know. I'm just not…you know. Don't want there to be any misunderstanding there."

Tara just nodded, not trusting herself to speak.

Willow was edging toward the door, the relaxed comfortableness that had existed between the two girls suddenly gone. Tara could tell from Willow's aura that the friendship was likely over. "Well, I've really gotta be going. It's been fun, I'll give you a call about Saturday."

"Willow, wuh-wait…"

"Oh no, it's cool, totally cool, the coolest of the cool . See you later."

Then Willow was out the door, leaving Tara alone. The floodgates burst then, tears spilling from her eyes in glittering diamond cascades. She felt a pain in her chest, as if someone had stuck a blade right between her breasts. She sat down heavily on the bed, wondering how she could have so thoroughly ruined this in only a matter of seconds. An instant really, the instant she'd kissed Willow's neck.

"It's okay," she said to herself, wiping her face, but she didn't really believe it. She'd never met anyone like Willow before. After only a week, Tara's feelings were intense and deep. And she'd wrecked it.

Looking down at the crystals and vials of various potions and powders on the floor, Tara thought about how much fun she and Willow had been having earlier, practicing a spell to turn water into wine. How easy it had seemed with Willow there, taking one thing and turning it into another…

The metaphorical light going off above Tara's head, she sprang from the bed and hurried to her closet, rummaging around in the back until she found the spell book she was searching for. The book had belonged to her mother, one of the few possessions of her mother's Tara still had. She'd studied the spells in the book over and over but had used very few of them. However, there was one she remembered that she thought would come in very handy now.

Checking the instructions, she was pleased to find she had all the ingredients she'd need right here in her room. She should be able to whip the spell up in a matter of minutes.

* * *

Fifteen minutes later, there was a knock at Tara's dorm room door. She feigned surprise to find Willow on the other side.

"Willow, did you fuh-forget something?"

Willow fidgeted in the hallway, looking as if she were fighting the urge to bolt. "Mind if I come in?"

"Not at all."

Willow came inside, eyes alighting on the furniture, the dark walls, the twinkling lights Tara had strung up, as if she had never seen any of it before. Finally she looked back at Tara, opened her mouth as if she were about to say something then closed it again.

"I wuh-want to apologize for before," Tara said. "It was my muh-mistake."

"No, it wasn't. I mean, I should probably apologize for the way I reacted. It just caught me off guard and…well, I…"

"Wuh-what?"

"You might not be alone in this."

"I duh-don't understand."

"What I'm trying to say, very inarticulately, is that you may not be alone in your feelings. This is all kind of new to me, and I certainly wasn't expecting it. I've never thought of another girl in _that way_, and I can't say I was even really aware of thinking about you in that way. But after what happened before, I was on my way back to my room and I couldn't stop thinking about it, about you, and it suddenly hit me. I was so freaked out not because of your feelings but because of my own."

Tara stared at the floor, casting only quick glances up at Willow. "You ruh-really mean it?"

"Yes, I do. And if you don't mind, I thought maybe I could stay the night and we could talk about it."

"I'd luh-like that."

As she and Willow sat down on the edge of her bed, Tara found she couldn't stop smiling. She wondered if she should feel guilty for what she'd done, but all she felt was happiness. She supposed doing such things was in her nature.

She was, after all, part demon.

The End


End file.
